Comparison

Brushes vs Notebook Studio

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Brushes

This app offers a powerful digital painting and sketching experience with a modern interface and advanced features. Create detailed artwork with customizable brushes, layers, and color tools. Optimized for Apple Pencil and various devices.

Highlights
  • Customizable parameterized brushes
  • Advanced layer management
  • Apple Pencil support with pressure curve
  • Light and dark mode interface
  • Unlimited undo/redo
  • Cloud Drive import/export
Read full description

Brushes 4 is the latest iteration of the app that started the iPhone and iPad painting revolution. Redesigned with a clean and modern user interface, Brushes supports iPhone and iPad with optimisation for the iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone Pro and iPad with Apple Pencil. • Highlights: - Clean and modern user interface with light and dark modes. - Files based painting gallery. - New canvas interface. - Apple Pencil support with pressure curve. – Unlimited undo and redo. - Continuous auto-save. - Cloud Drive import and export. • Parameterized Brushes: - Selection of ready to use brushes with customisable settings. - Create your own custom brushes from millions of permutations. - Generate random brushes for inspiration. - Dynamic adjustment of brush size and opacity. • Layers: - Layer your artwork for greater control. – Lock and hide layers. – Use alpha lock to only paint where pixels already exist. – Adjust individual layer opacity. – Duplicate, rearrange and merge layers. – Apply layer blending modes: normal, multiply, screen, exclude. - Color fill any layer. – Invert layer color and desaturate. – Flip and arbitrarily transform layers. – Adjust the color balance per layer. – Adjust layer hue, saturation and brightness. • Colors: - Colour picker with hue ring and saturation square. - Store and recall your favourite colors in swatches. - Sample painting colors with the eyedropper tool. • Apple Pencil: - Intuitive and powerful pressure curve to match your style. - Configurable realtime pressure based adjustment of brush size and opacity. • Creation: - Preset canvas sizes for paper, photographs, iPhone and iPad screens, film and television displays. - Custom canvas size. • Import, export and sharing: - Import images directly from your camera roll. - Import PNG and JPEG images from cloud services. - Export your paintings for sharing or importing into other apps as PNG and JPEG to all cloud storage services or as photos directly to your camera roll. - Compatible with paintings created by Brushes 3 and Brushes Redux. • Light and dark appearances: - Choose between light and dark monochrome appearances, or current system setting. - Minimal use of user interface color so that tints in the user interface do not distract from or influence your artwork color choices. Acknowledgements. Thank you to Angela Ali, Jason M., Jeff Parker, Sandra Perez and Yoshiyuki Uchida for contributing artwork to the App Store screenshots. Please visit our website to see more of their artwork and for links to their portfolios. History. Brushes was originally created by Steve Sprang for iPhone in 2009 and for iPad in 2010. His last version, Brushes 3 was released in 2012, but was removed from the App Store in 2015. I took over development to modernise and support an app that has continued to be enjoyed by so many artists.

About

Notebook Studio

Features
Read full description

Design tailored, hyperlinked PDF planners and digital notebook templates calibrated specifically for e-ink displays and tablet. General graphic design tools like Canva or Adobe Express are built for RGB color monitors and commercial print. Notebook Studio is engineered from the ground up for the unique physics of electronic paper: ultra-sharp 1-bit monochrome vector lines, calibrated dot-grid contrast, and lightweight hyperlinked documents that turn pages instantly without lag. CALIBRATED FOR E-INK • Contrast Tuning: Fine-tune line weights and dot grids to eliminate ghosting and faint rules on Carta 1200 and Gallery 3 screens. • Fast Page Turns: Lean vector rendering ensures massive multi-page planners load smoothly without taxing e-reader memory. • True-to-Scale Layouts: Exact pixel-and-millimeter canvas templates tailored for reMarkable Paper Pro, reMarkable 2, Supernote A5 X/A6 X2 Nomad, Onyx Boox Note/Go series, and Kindle Scribe. DEEP CUSTOMIZATION & SMART LAYOUTS • Automated Hyperlink Engine: Build structured yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily agendas with click-through navigation tabs generated automatically. • Modular Grid Designer: Configure dot grid spacing, French ruling, Cornell note sections, isometric grids, music staves, and habit tracking matrices. • Smart Layout Generator (v1.2): Speed up layout generation with layout assistance that balances margins and line distributions automatically. OFFLINE INTEGRITY & PRIVACY • 100% Local Processing: Notebook Studio requires no account, collects no telemetry, and operates completely offline. • No Cloud Dependencies: Your documents remain strictly on your iPad/Mac until you export them directly via AirDrop, local storage, or your e-reader's companion app. • One-Time Purchase: Pay once, own it forever. No monthly subscriptions, no tier locks, and no watermarks. DEVICE & SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY • Optimized for iPadOS 17.0+ and macOS 14.0+ with full Apple Pencil support. • Direct PDF export verified compatible with reMarkable, Ratta Supernote, Onyx Boox (NeoReader), Kindle Scribe, Kobo Elipsa, and Goodnotes/Notability. --- ABOUT THE DEVELOPER Notebook Studio is built independently by an e-ink enthusiast and audio/software engineer dedicated to distraction-free digital stationery. Feedback and template feature requests are welcome at support@notebookstudio.app.

Screenshots

Brushes4 screens
Notebook Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Notebook Studio at every 10 days against Brushes's every 6 weeks. Brushes's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $6.99) and chart position (#105 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Brushes costs $3.99 and Notebook Studio $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Brushes ships an update every 6 weeks, Notebook Studio every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Brushes versus Notebook Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBrushesNotebook Studio
Price$3.99 — better$6.99
Rating4.6 (179 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews57.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings179 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank#105 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB11 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperEnvozaSAMUEL JOSEPH PROCTOR

Bugs and requests

Brushes

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Brush tips not staying (switching to square)
  • Auto-save not working
  • Cannot place images from gallery
  • Brush size slider jumps
  • Circular lines icon appears unexpectedly
Show 4 more
  • App quits unexpectedly without saving
  • Canvas doesn't rotate
  • Won't load photos
  • Empty app after purchase

Requested features

6 requests
  • More save color slots
  • Full Chinese menu translation
  • Instructions/manual
  • Smudge tool
  • Documentation
Show 1 more
  • Screen rotation feature

Notebook Studio

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Brushes

No in-app purchases

None

Notebook Studio

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Brushes free?
Brushes costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notebook Studio free?
Notebook Studio costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Brushes or Notebook Studio have ads?
Neither Brushes nor Notebook Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Brushes or Notebook Studio?
Brushes ships an update every 6 weeks, and Notebook Studio every 10 days. Most recently, Brushes was updated on November 6, 2026 and Notebook Studio on November 10, 2026.

Other comparisons